Noun.
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing, and letter-spacing, as well as adjusting the space between pairs of letters.
A quote that stood out to me was that
“95% of the information on the web is written language…the main discipline of shaping written information…typography”.
I hadn’t realised how much we rely on typography in our every day lives, so it is vital designers are able to use it correctly.
Kunz was born in 1943 and is originally from Switzerland but moved to the US in 1970. He has been called an ‘information architect’, as a result of he uses a visual hierarchy to bring order and clarity to the messages he is trying to give. Kunz played a key role in introducing a new type of typography. Wolfgang Weingart was a huge inspiration to Kunz, and led him to begin a series of typographic interpretations of writings by Marshall McLuhan. These were visualised by contrasting weights, geometric forms, unorthodox lettering and spacing. Kunz doesn’t use a grid when designing, he simply starts the design and lets it grow from there.
Weingart (1941-2021) was an internationally known graphic designer and typographer. His work and designs are placed into the category of Swiss Typography and is often called the ‘father’ of New Wave Typography. Weingart’s influence on the growth of typography though his teachings and designs, is unparalleled. He once said that “anyone who uses Helvetica knows nothing about typefaces typography”, and this quote highlights the change he brought to type design.
